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I spent my lunch putting together my new board quiver. I finally decided to go with the Jimmy Lewis 136cm Park and the Jimmy Lewis 6’3 Chamber. My park is Yellow and the Chamber is Mustard. I decaled up both boards butting “R” Logos where they needed to go and placed the pads and straps and even waxed my first surfboard.

Brandon and I started the weekend off with a 6’3 chamber session at KP. It was a NE wind so the sound was very flat at KP. He rode a 8m LF Havoc and I rode both my 9m and 13m Fuels. We practiced out jibes and learning to get use to that board. Zack, Dave, Nadina and a few others were the only ones out riding. We rode there until dark.

Zack and I then headed up to meet the rest of the team in Nags Head for the O’Neil Braggers Cup. The event was pretty cool. It was interesting to see how a surf competition goes down. There were al ton of 15 year old kids on some very tinny surfboards ripping up the small surf. All I can say about our team is that we had the longest rides on the biggest boards. We defiantly did not come in first but we didn’t finish last either.

Samm and Erin got into town on Saturday night. I meet up with them at the property in Waves where we were having the Coaches LF demo and BBQ. Julian the LF head Kite designer was there Teching everyone out about all the new gear.

Sunday brought some ridiculous winds. It blew 30-50. I rode at KP in the morning before the demo. I had to take pictures of LF demo afterwards. Ty and Slezy were boosting to the moon on 6m kites. It was really quite a sight to see. We convened the LF demo at the buxton shop. Afterwards Slezy, Julian, Colin, Greg and Sammy did a downwinder from Avon to the Lighthouse Ocean side. They were riding kites between 6m and 3ms. I grabbed a few more photos there and then chilled for the rest of the weekend. Sunday was also the day that i reached the same number of sessions that i had all of last season combined. Its crazy to think how much more time i have on the water now…

A bunch of us did a downwinder on the south side after work. We went from the ferry docks to robin lane. Dave, Zack, Tommy, Matt, Britt and Soddy came on this downwinder. It was a blast. We pumped up small kites. I rode my 9m fuel and the LF Recoil 136cm. The waves were waist to the occasional chest high wave. It took me a little while to get use to this board in the ocean. I rode it a bunch in the sound weeks ago and loved it. You really have to set your edge to turn in the waves. It took me a good quarter mile to get use to how the board behaved in the waves, but once I did I really enjoyed riding it. This was the first time it took me that long to get use to a board. It cuts through the chop well. The landing can be very soft on the flexible tails.

The last two days have been a blast. I went for the triple session on Tuesday and succeeded. The details of the first two session are on the post previous this one. Tim and I scored the last session of the day in waves. We did a downwinder from STA to The Slick. I was very powered on my 9m fuel and the JL park. We played in the slick til sundown.
Thursday tim and I shot in waves all day. Its been great having the SW winds bring up the temperatures and allowing us to wear shorties and soon board shorts. It was the first time i’ve seen the lessons going on and experienced the hole system working. We took out a jet ski to shoot the lessons going on from start to finish. It was a really cool experience. I also snagged a quick lunch session with Joe joe (rico). And took a great session after work in the slick with Ryan Evans, Darlene, Scott, Nicole and Shaggy. Ryan Evans grabbed some sweet shots in the slick of us riding. Below are a few of me riding the slick. After I was so tired I couldn’t hold onto the bar I headed back to the property and packed it up. Slezy showed up to take a session so a bunch of us walked up to the dock at the slick to watch him session.

Dave, Zack and I scored a much needed session after work yesterday. We pulled up to KP around 6 to 10 kties in the aire. We pumped up and headed out. Zack and I on 13m Fuels and dave on an 11 waroo pro. It was perfect. We all learned some new trick. Dave and I got zack to do his first sent jump. We kited til the sun went down. I also scored a session this morning at KP again. It was a solo session at 6am. I rode my 17m for about 30min and then had to put up the 13m because I was too powered.

EDIT: So i snuck out for session #2 of the day during lunch. I headed to KP and put up my 14m and quickly got blown off it and put up my 9m and was very powered. It was suprisingly not very busy at KP. S i rode around and boosted some big jumps and big crashes for a hour and then headed back to work. I’m hoping for the triple session count for the day.

The Weekend was a blast but far from relaxing. Since there was no wind, we spent nearly the entire weekend on the beach surfing and standup paddleboarding. We had a session down by the frisco pier on Saturday and Sunday we were up between avon and buxton. Sundays session the waves were huge. I got my first shoulder to head high wave. The rest of the crew especially Zack were having a get time out there. Now that we have all paddled our arms off the forcast for the week is SW warm and windy all week long.

We booked it out of the shop yesterday at 6:00 to head to the lighthouse for a kitesurf session. I rode the 13m Fuel and the JL Park and the JL 5’2” Surf. The waves were head high and fun but the wind was kinda fluky. I liked the KiteSurf. I think that the 5’8 or 6’0 would be much better for me. I liked how the board rode in the waves and the swells. The 5’2 had straps on it which was nice when trying to get out past the breakers but was kind of a hassle when trying to surf the waves since you tend to move your feet around. With the weird wind and the current it made getting up wind very difficult. But the waves made the session well worth it.

We went for a standup paddle after work yesterday at the frisco pier because the wind decided to die about a hour before we were done working so to the pier it was. It was a blast I rode the JL 11’0” standup paddleboard. I was able to get up and over the waves with out falling. Catching the waves was a hole nother story. I was able to catch the biggest wave of the session but I was laying down on the board. It was a good time though. Nick, Tim, Nuzzi, Zack and I were down there for the session. Below are a couple shots after I finished riding.

Yesterday it blew a constant WNW @30 knots all day. With a little hesitation a bunch of us decided to head out and ride with some of our clients. We drove up to Avon where it was still just as cold and the wind was coming mostly onshore. Before we left we raided the shop and took all of the smallest kites we could find. I rode the 7m Slingshot Link and the JL Model 3 139cm. Dave was on a 5m Fuel, Tommy rode a 7m Waroo and Nuzzi was on a 7.5 boxer. We all had a good time after getting out into the water since the launch was not the safest in the world, but it turned out to be a lot worse looking than it really was. The Sound side was up about 2-4 feet higher than usual. I liked riding the link it’s a quick flying kite and turns on the drop of a dime. It was hard sometimes to know where the kite was in the air because of the light bar pressure. The kite had great depower. I defiantly should have rode that kite for yesterday’s ocean session.

This weekend proved to be another great one. I started Saturday off slow going to the Orange blossom for a tastey breakfast. Then droved down to the wash out for a couple hours of light kiting. GS, Wendy, Dave, Beth and Zack were there along with some others. I also meet Jonn Myers, who kites with My friend Tom who recently moved down the SC for work. After the wind got really light we called it a session and headed home. Tommy, Joe and myself meet up with john his girl friend (Ruth) and friend (erin) for dinner. And then a bunch of us came back to the house to hang out and watch movies and plan for the storm coming the next day. Ryan Evens came down with Steve that night to ride with us in the morning. We woke up and went to the shop for gear around 9 and then headed to KP. When we got to KP it was getting dark. By the time we were running our lines it was poring. We checked the radar and had a good hour to two hours before it became unkiteable. We were all up on small kites (9m). We were boosting as high as any of us had before. It was a great session other than the poring rain, and some gusts. Once the wind picked up past 30 we had to put the kites down. We took a break and hung out more at the house. 3:30 came around and the storm was just starting to pass so we headed out to The Cove again to hopefully get up and ride. The pics below are from that time. It was sunny but poring and windy as can be. The rain stopped a half hour later and tommy when out on his 7 waroo pro and the JL Chaamber strapless. The wind was 30-35 knots and the waves were head to maybe double overhead. I put up my 9m fuel and took the JL Charger for a couple tacks. John put up his kite but I couldn’t hold it down. Evens tried to put up a 9m Boxer and Joe had to hold him down from flying away. About that time the wind picked up from when I went out. I was way over powered and skidded to a face plant in the surf. My board flew off my feet. So, I was in head high surf and dusk body dragging for a board I thought id never find. But luckly after a couple of body drags I was able to get back to my board and depower the kite enough to get back to shore. All while tommy was still out rocking it. It was a great sight to see none the less and it was defiantly a great weekend.

More Photos coming soon.